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diy solar

diy solar

New here.. Thinking outloud.

Currently (ha! get it.. I'm here all week folks tip your wait staff).. , we're fully filling the tote about every 4 weeks, in the summer we go through a lot more water than the winter (theory, haven't been through a winter yet).

I plan on not letting the tank go below 50%, so I am calculating topping the tank about every 3 weeks, so not enough residual heat in the water going in to make a difference. The water is brought in by a very long hose, filled, and drained. Luckily there is about 75 feet elevation difference between water source and destination, so not a large chance of water staying in the line. Another option is to just keep the hose out all year round, but where's the fun in that?
 
Anything above ground has even more requirements on how it's done because if it's done wrong it comes down on top of people and things.
Oddly I do have poles running back there from an old 3 phase line that Hydro had an easement on the property. But the requirements were crazy, have to be bare cables, can't be 120v, my electrician said its a great choice, as he was planning on renovating his kitchen and this would easily pay for it...
 
You don't need to circulate anything.

Use an immersion heater right inside the tank. It's literally just a heater coil and nothing else.

No heat exchanger. No pump. No freezing inside of expensive parts.


If you run straight from the panels it'll probably not need any kind of controller or anything and with enough panels you'll still get a bit of heat in there even on a bad day.
https://www.amazon.ca/Dernord-Immersion-Submersible-Element-Stainless/dp/B0176DVBRE

So something like that. Insulate the tank, drop that in. Power direct from the panels, as hot as it can get all day long..
 
To raise 1125Liters of water 20c would take 22kwh of energy If my math is correct.
 
If you do that, you want to try to match the resistance of the heating element to the Vmp and Imp of the panels.... Otherwise they will be operating way off of their optimal point and not providing much power.
Good point, thank you.
 
Funny thing. My dad calls me up, and I said - hey, blah blah blah.. tote.. blah..

He came back with.. if an air hose would work.. why not just run an air hose all the way down, it wont freeze, no voltage, no need to trench and can run along the fence line.. so.. one more thing to think about.
 
Bubbles keep a pond open with heat from below the grounds frost line but a container isn't a pond unless it's mostly buried or something. When I forget my soda bottle in the freezer the ice is thick all over. Sorry to burst your bubble.
 
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Bubbles keep a pond open with heat from below the grounds frost line but a container isn't a pond unless it's mostly buried or something. When I forget my soda bottle in the freezer the ice is thick all over. Sorry to burst your bubble.
But are you keeping the water in a state of motion. I have a pond that is only 3 feet deep, if I run the bubbler in it, it doesn't freeze solid, I will still get some ice on the edges, but the top won't freeze. I could put a bucket of water in the freezer with a bubbler as proof of concept.
 
To raise 1125Liters of water 20c would take 22kwh of energy If my math is correct.
1000l from 1c to 5c in 4 hours only need a 1200w heater.

So 5kwh/day if you insulate it well enough to not freeze overnight. That's still a lot of power though, especially in the winter.


At some point you're almost better off just hauling the water out there lol
 
Bubbles keep a pond open with heat from below the grounds frost line but a container isn't a pond unless it's mostly buried or something. When I forget my soda bottle in the freezer the ice is thick all over. Sorry to burst your bubble.
That makes sense. I wondered how bubbling water to keep it from freezing worked.
 
How cold do you get ?
It gets down to -15 -20 for a few weeks every winter in my area .
I keep a tote in my garage sitting on the concret floor .
I just wrap it in a tarp and it Dose not freeze .
It’s been 5 years now the line freezes but it’s not a problem .
I think some 2” foam board on the sides and top will do the trick .
If the barn has a dirt floor you could dig down a foot or 2 and drop the tank in .
On construction jobs we stack bales of hay around the tank to keep it warm .
If you are adding water every day I’m sure you will be fine .
 
How cold do you get ?
It gets down to -15 -20 for a few weeks every winter in my area .
I keep a tote in my garage sitting on the concret floor .
I just wrap it in a tarp and it Dose not freeze .
It’s been 5 years now the line freezes but it’s not a problem .
I think some 2” foam board on the sides and top will do the trick .
If the barn has a dirt floor you could dig down a foot or 2 and drop the tank in .
On construction jobs we stack bales of hay around the tank to keep it warm .
If you are adding water every day I’m sure you will be fine .
All good points!! Even if the barn has a concrete slab, it would offer a lot of temperature buffering.
 
If you do that, you want to try to match the resistance of the heating element to the Vmp and Imp of the panels.... Otherwise they will be operating way off of their optimal point and not providing much power.
with these panels, 30v and 8a, I should try to find an element that's 30v, and 240watt? or use (the amazon one listed) but use 12v panels instead.
Would a dc-dc converter work in this case, drop it to 12v?
 
I think a combination of excessive insulation and a little bit of heat should hold it over.

I can't emphasize enough the value of insulation vs cost of solar and batteries.
 
Ive had water totes out side all winter and they never froze solid .
Hay bails works real good .
How long does a tote full of water last?
If you topped it off every day it probbley would not freeze .
I thing a heater with small genarator would work all so .
You could run it for a hour when it’s very cold .
 
Ive had water totes out side all winter and they never froze solid .
Hay bails works real good .
How long does a tote full of water last?
If you topped it off every day it probbley would not freeze .
I thing a heater with small genarator would work all so .
You could run it for a hour when it’s very cold .
Yeah. If you go this route, you could get a much larger heater and bring the whole tote up.
Running a 2kw heater for 3 hours will only get you +5C, but I bet it would last a good while (again, while insulated).
 
That was the original plan, just run a water line down buried 5ft, and use winterized pumps to bring it up, which lead into the red tape for trenching the water in, because I was going to run water, and fiber down.

Can't run the power on ground. Can't remember why but i thought run it along the fence, and was told nope.

The panels I can get are $50/panel for the ones posted above.

Hmm. The heater is an idea. Enough to keep it above freezing. Would still need to power a pump to circulate it through the heat exchanger, and the risk of it freezing inside the heat exchanger..

I wonder how bad it
That was the original plan, just run a water line down buried 5ft, and use winterized pumps to bring it up, which lead into the red tape for trenching the water in, because I was going to run water, and fiber down.

Can't run the power on ground. Can't remember why but i thought run it along the fence, and was told nope.

The panels I can get are $50/panel for the ones posted above.

Hmm. The heater is an idea. Enough to keep it above freezing. Would still need to power a pump to circulate it through the heat exchanger, and the risk of it freezing inside the heat exchanger..

I wonder how bad it would be to just bring the animals inside the house for the winter. They can snuggle with the kids....
rent a trencher and work at night on the weekend my 2 cents
 
January in Wisconsin gets bloody cold and the sun doesn't do squat
Using this local experience I suggest a 24v 600w immersion heater from aliexpress


Drill a hole to fit a 1 inch bsp tank flange(galv but poly will do) in the side of the tank, Insert the heater and connect about 20 panels in parallel. If you still find that you don't have enough panels to keep the voltage up you can disconnect one side of the element for greater resistance.
 
Ive had water totes out side all winter and they never froze solid .
Hay bails works real good .
How long does a tote full of water last?
If you topped it off every day it probbley would not freeze .
I thing a heater with small genarator would work all so .
You could run it for a hour when it’s very cold .
If i were to top it off every day, there wouldn't be a need for the tote as I would just directly fill up the animals waters. Its a pain to take water down as its at the rear of the property. Its not bad right now that I can take an atv and trailer. Soon we'll get "snow". where its too muddy for the atv, but not enough snow for snowmobile.

I want to make sure that there is always water available. As this is the first year we've got animals in the back, I don't know what to expect. So.. just thinking outload. So far, the R35 insulation, air, and an immersion heater are in the lead. Take a genny down in case.
 
Using this local experience I suggest a 24v 600w immersion heater from aliexpress


Drill a hole to fit a 1 inch bsp tank flange(galv but poly will do) in the side of the tank, Insert the heater and connect about 20 panels in parallel. If you still find that you don't have enough panels to keep the voltage up you can disconnect one side of the element for greater resistance.
With the panels being 30 ish volts, (can't check its on the prior page) won't I run into issues feeding it direct?
 
Hmmmmm I think if there is mud , the tanks won’t freeze ? .
At my place the mud gets solid at Christmas and is still hard in March .
No problem with mud ? Until spring .
If the barn is closed up and the tank is insulated it has to get very cold to freeze.
I would forget the air and just insulate the tank , fiber glass insulation @ r35 will leak cold air .
I would use 2” green board from lows the stuff is stiff and will last for years .
3 4x8 sheets 2 for the sides and double for the top so 4” .
The first 2” sheet gets a hole to refill the tank the second sheet just lays on top .
The hay just get stacked around it .
In the spring the animals can just eat the insulation .
just a side note , my rabbits , chickens will get hot ? water when it’s cold ? .
 
Hmmmmm I think if there is mud , the tanks won’t freeze ? .
At my place the mud gets solid at Christmas and is still hard in March .
No problem with mud ? Until spring .
If the barn is closed up and the tank is insulated it has to get very cold to freeze.
I would forget the air and just insulate the tank , fiber glass insulation @ r35 will leak cold air .
I would use 2” green board from lows the stuff is stiff and will last for years .
3 4x8 sheets 2 for the sides and double for the top so 4” .
The first 2” sheet gets a hole to refill the tank the second sheet just lays on top .
The hay just get stacked around it .
In the spring the animals can just eat the insulation .
just a side note , my rabbits , chickens will get hot ? water when it’s cold ? .
You know you can buy that stuff 4+ inches thick right lol
 

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